Vonnegut once protested against Veteran's Day. I understood immediately why he did, but I also understood immediately why no one else did.
I tried explaining this to the kids today, and they looked at me with bewildering expressions. They seemed to think that I hated Veterans.
You see, the First World War ended with the Treaty of Versailles. This signing of the Treaty was supposed to mark the end of all wars (you know, the war to end all wars). The day of the Treaty was forever to be remembered as Armistice Day on November 11th. You've probably heard the grade school mnemonic, "on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". It was signed on November 11, 1918 at 11 am. Many parts of the world still observed two minutes of silence on 11/11 at 11 am of each year, in memory of the 8 million who died in WWI.
After WWII, the day was changed to Veteran's Day. This is a major change, if you can read and detect the difference. Rather than a day where we recognize the end of wars (the technology in warfare, such as the machine gun and mustard gas, were supposed to prove the futility of warfare, thus ending wars...amazingly enough, no one learned even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki!) we now recognize a day that confirms that mankind will never cease killing each other. We couldn't have a Veteran's Day unless we have Veterans, and no veteran can exist without war. Rather than saying we'll see an end to all war, we're admitting that we'll probably be in war until the end of time.
Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt. Right, Kurt?
We should, in all honesty, observe Politician Day. Lawyer Day. Until those two participants in the circle of life come to an end, we'll never see an end to war.
At the very least, it would be a step in the right direction towards creating Armistice Day again.
Imagine all the people, John.
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